Guernsey Press

ESC boss: ‘We need to win the hearts and minds of public’

THE president of Education has said more needs to be done to win over the ‘hearts and minds’ of the public, in the wake of the States decision to give financial backing to the two new 11-18 comprehensive schools.

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President of Education, Sport & Culture Deputy Matt Fallaize. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 25702110)

Deputy Matt Fallaize, the president of Education, Sport & Culture, wants to engage more with parents and teachers and he promised to take on board their concerns.

‘I’m not naive enough to believe that we can get to a position where nobody regrets the move to the new model and everybody agrees with it, but I think it is quite important that we now move beyond what has been a divisive period, and the reason that we have to move beyond that is because parents are really important to how students view school, and schools rely on parents to support the school. If the model is going to succeed to the greatest extent possible we [the committee] know that we have to do more to bring more people along with us, and I accept that as a challenge.

‘I accept the need to win more hearts and minds is a challenge for us over the next few months and the committee is very eager to take on that challenge and succeed.’

On Friday night the States voted by 22-15 to allocate £77.9m. to building two all-ability colleges at Les Baubigny and St Sampson’s.

The voting reflected a previous decision taken last year, and only Deputies Peter Ferbrache and Jan Kuttelwascher switched sides, they jumped from the yes side into the no camp.

Funding of £51.1m. was also agreed for a new College of Further Education (now known as the Guernsey Institute), with only four states members voting against that.

Whilst acknowledging the significant public outcry over the two school model, Deputy Fallaize refuted the suggestion that the public was generally against it.

He felt that a lot of the public opposition to the new model was ‘wrapped up’ in a previous decision to end selection.

That assertion was backed up by the voting pattern of deputies at least, because of the 15 who voted against the two comprehensives, 10 of them had voted to try to save the 11 plus when that issue last came up.

ESC still has some final hurdles to get over, including planning permission and the tender process, but it is predicted that spades could be in the ground in June next year.

After the historic debate states members congratulated Deputy Fallaize and even his critics called him ‘the hardest working deputy in the states’.

It was also recognised that Deputy Fallaize had faced some unpleasantness on social media, with people attacking not just the policy but also making personal attacks against him.

Deputy Fallaize said he accepted that as part of the territory.

‘I think if you are elected to a political position you have two choices - you either stick your finger in the air and you see which way the prevailing wind is blowing and always try to stay on the side of what you think prevailing opinion to be and never try to upset anyone, and well you achieve almost nothing; or you throw yourself into it and work hard and come to the decisions you think are right based on the research, and you stand up and be counted.’

‘You need to work as physically hard as you can to do your best for the island’s children, yes it’s hard work but it’s also a privilege, I’m not complaining in any way at all.’